Value addition in flowers for Urban and Peri Urban areas

Due to change in lifestyle the demand for flowers is increasing day by day especially in urban areas. During the peak season may be festivals, religious ceremonies, valentine day, marriages etc., there is a great demand of flowers and farmer get a good price , but in case of glut or off season the demand is less and supply is more, farmers do not get remunerative price. Due to highly perishable nature, most of these flowers are being wasted, therefore, value addition is a very good alternative to avoid wastage and utilize glut. Value addition means increasing the value of a raw product anytime between harvesting and sale of the final product through changes by processing. Any product can be considered value added if it is grown by farmer and increased in value by labour and creativity. The consumers are willing to pay more for the value added products compared to raw ones. Value addition includes preparation of products from fresh flowers like cut flower arrangements, bouquets, garlands, corasage, wreaths, buttonholes, floral — Ritu Jain Value addition in flowers for Urban and Peri Urban areas Value Addition January 2015 13 Floriculture Today jewelry; petal embedded handmade paper, dried flower arrangements like wreaths and wall swatches, painted gourds, sachets, pot pourris; products made up of press dried flowers like greeting cards, wall hangings, sceneries, table tops, book marks, paper weights etc. Value addition also offers an opportunity of making processed flowers products like jam, jelly, beverages, rose water, gulkand, gulroban, floral dyes, floral tea (rose, chrysanthemum, jasmine, hibiscus) etc. Besides this a number of products like essential oil, perfumes, insect repellants, cosmetics, pigments like xanthophylls, carotenoids, luteins, anthocyanins, etc. which haveneutraceutical properties and pharmaceutical compounds can be prepared from the flowers. For successful value-addition it is recommended that carefully identify goods that utilize local resources and fulfill the gap in the market. Adding value adds to the cost of production, but careful planning and test marketing can significantly increase the net return of a small-scale floriculture enterprise. Value-addition ensures high premium to the grower, while providing more acceptable quality products for the domestic and export market, and encourage the customers to buy such products. There are three main reasons for value addition: utilization of excess produce and elimination of waste; stabilizing farm income by adding profits; and finally affording an outlet for creativity. There are different modes of value addition: Fresh Flower Products: It includes two types of flower arrangements; firstly cut flower arrangements like bouquets, baskets, bunch, buttonaire, corsage etc.; secondly loose flower products like garland, floral strings, pomanders, wreaths, floral jewelry etc. Recently, the floral jewelry concept has become very popular among brides especially in metropolitan cities on mehandi event of marriage, as the floral jewelry will be matching to dress and light in weight, convenient to use and there are no chances of jewelry theft. Since the fresh flower have limited shelf life so these can be enjoyed from 2- 15 days depending upon the prevailing climatic conditions and species used. Dry Flower products: Dried flowers have been exported for the last 40 years USA and Asian countries. The dry flower export from India has a share of around 70 percent of total export; therefore there is a great scope of drying the flowers grown in local area and to convert them into everlasting value added products like dry flower arrangements, baskets, bouquets, table arrangements etc. Among different dry flower products out pot pourri is a major dry flower export item. Besides this there are press dried flower products including greeting cards, bookmarks, swaths, paper weights, wall hangings, table tops, table mats, etc. Most of these dry flower products have a shelf life of 6- 9 months therefore, consumer can enjoy these flower products for comparatively longer time and utilize maximum benefit of the money spent. Processed products: Processed products include essential oils, absolutes, concrete, petal jam (rose, rhododendron), jelly, ready to serve beverages, wine, floral tea, rose hip juice, poultry feed, insect repellent, floral dyes, petal embedded handmade paper, cosmetics like calendula cream, rose water, rose cream etc. Pharmaceutical and neutraceutical compounds: Due to globalization international competition is increasing, people are becoming more conscious, therefore use ofnatural ingredients is increasing in food and pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, the flowers pigments like carotenoid, xanthophyll, anthocyanin etc. are being used in food industry and compounds like lutein, vincristine, catharanthine, vitamin C extracted from rose hips are being used in pharmaceutical industry. Carotenoids are the major source of pigment for poultry feed. The pigment is used in feed for intensification of yellow colour of egg yolk and broiler skin and increase the lutein content which is good for health. There is a tremendous scope of converting the flowers into different value added products depending upon the need, desire and condition of the flowers. Moreover, the fresh and dried flower products can be used even for interior decoration. By making use of value addition technology, wastage can be avoided during the glut period and farmers involved in the flower cultivation can earn better remuneration. n Value-addition ensures high premium to the grower, while providing more acceptable quality products for the domestic and export market . . . There are three main reasons for value addition: utilization of excess produce and elimination of waste; stabilizing farm income by adding profits; and finally affording an outlet for creativity Value Addition and still dried flower industry is rapidly expanding; and adds enriched value to the flourishing industry. India is one of the leading countries in the dry flower exports and major export destinations of Indian floriculture products are Europe,

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